I was so struck by this article in The New Yorker by Seymour M. Hersh -- a great investigative reporter -- that I decided to post it on my blog: WATCHING LEBANON by SEYMOUR M. HERSH Washington’s interests in Israel’s war. Issue of 2006-08-21 Posted 2006-08-14 In the days after Hezbollah crossed from Lebanon into Israel, on July 12th,
If you haven't already been reading Tom Perrotta in The New York Sun, I would strongly recommend that you do so. Wonderfully detailed, great perspective and knowledge of the game. Reading him is even better than watching a game on TV.
After Lebanon, there's Iran (Christian Science Monitor) By Vali Nasr MONTEREY, CALIF. When the war in Lebanon ends, the US will have to piece together a whole new strategy for dealing with Iran - especially its nuclear program. The Israeli- Hizbullah war has boldly ratcheted up Iran's regional stature at the same time it has depleted US infl
I suppose that if one were to delve into history, one could conclude that all nations are artificial. Someone put them together -- whether it was the Founding Fathers who formed the United States, or some mythic royals who assembled the Nordic states. But in the ongoing G2K discussion, we are presumably talking about contemporary times -- about nations that are "in pl
By the way, yes -- Indian pharmaceuticals are as safe as those produced in the US and anywhere else. Perhaps you are still thinking of a land of snake charmers and bullock carts?
Hard to imagine that Mr. Bush would want to "hide" from the world during as visible a state visit as he paid to India!
In signing a historic and highly lenient nuclear treaty with India last week, but withholding similar concessions from its rival Pakistan, President Bush signaled that "parity" isn't a concept to be applied universally in contemporary diplomacy. He offered public recognition to the fact that democratic India's value as a political ally and economic partner fa
Thanks for your kind words. In addition to feeling violated in my own apartment, there's the question of losing important data. For a journalist like me, a laptop is an extension of one's limb. Besides the cost of replacing it, there's always the underlying concern over how much personal data I'd stored. In this age of identity theft, one can only imagine the consequences of such a theft. Bests, Pranay
I appreciate your thoughtful comment. It's particularly distressing for a journalist like me because so much of my work was preserved on that laptop. Thanks for your kind words. Bests, Pranay
I came to America 38 years ago from India, where I was born and raised. In all these years here -- and in dozens of countries I have visited as a journalist -- I've never had anything stolen from me. Call me lucky. The luck ran out this week. I discovered that an expensive IBM laptop computer was missing from my study. It had been sitting in its case on a sof
So, as expected, India's communists and other parties of leftist persuasion have, shall we say, convinced Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to backtrack on his plans to privatize state behemoths. His fragile coalition government in India's 545-member Lower House of Parliament depends on leftist support, even though leftists aren't formally a part of that coalitio
It's not that the subject of HIV/AIDS isn't covered by the media. But the focus of stories is far too often on reports, and on gloomy news. What about stories from the field where nongovernmental organizations, in particular, work with constituencies such as AIDS orphans? In recent months, I've had the opportunity to learn about some of these projec
Letter from Maurice Strong to Pranay Gupte, received by e-mail on June 9, 2005 I read your article of April 29th only after we had talked on the telephone. Amongst its several distortions and errors of fact I would point out: 1) That I did not authorize a purchase by Ontario Hydro of the 31,000 acres of forest land in Costa Rica you refer to. Any
Profile: Maurice F. Strong By PRANAY GUPTE Special to the Sun The Canadian business tycoon and self-styled socialist who's currently embroiled in a scandal relating to the United Nations, Maurice Strong, has created a worldwide network of influential people whom he's enlisted in the cause of environmentalism and "sustainable development," a phras
Dear Mr. Gupte, My name is Salimah Fort and I am the Senior Customer Consultant at FedexKinko's in Brooklyn. I am writing you today to express my sincere apologies for the business card mishap. I would like to offer you a complete refund and a free reprint of the cards. I also would like to give you two 40% off coupons for two future posters. I would apprecia
The following is the text of a letter I sent to Gary Kusin, president of Fedex Kinko's, and Maggie Thill, of the company's media department. Neither has responded. Dear Maggie Thill: I write this to say how disappointed I am with the service -- or lack thereof -- at the fedex Kinko's center at 16 Court, Brooklyn, NY 11201. I had placed
I flew to Paris to attend an exhibit at the Museum of Decorative Arts in the Louvre. The exhibit consisted of T-shirts produced by 79 renowned fashion designers to mark World AIDS Orphans Day, May 7. WAOD is the creation of Countess Albina du Boisrouvray, the founder of the Association Francois-Xavier Bagnoud, named after her son, a helicopter rescue pilot who was kil
Col Allen Editor, the New York Post Herbert Allen CEO, Allen & Company Stanley S. Arkin Arkin Kaplan Leon D. Black Apollo Management Michael R. Bloomberg Mayor of New York City Joyce Brown President, Fashion Institute of Technology Arthur Carter The New York Observer James Cayne
Of course it's preferable to give an electorate the opportunity to "turn out the rascals" every two or four or five years -- depending on a country's electoral cycle -- but how many rascals do we truly toss out? In many of the Third World's democracies -- and here I return to India as a prime example -- felons and assorted thugs, once elected to legislatures, rarely g
Having been a columnist for Newsweek International for 18 years, I would suggest this to fellow G2K list members: Don't take the magazine's selection of "leaders to watch" too seriously. The choices are made quite arbitarily and, I submit, often without genuine in-depth knowledge of various regions. To name only one person -- Mohsen Kadivar -- in a region of
It's nice that some Iraqis are optimistic about the upcoming election. But let's not forget that an election is only a process, a means toward establishing a governing order. Implicit in the trust that people invest in election is that those who they elect are capable of good governance and policymaking. Has anyone given much thought to who the candidates ar
Regardless of Iraq's internal situation prior to the US invasion in 2003, the fact remains that the liberation and occupation have resulted in anarchy where most instruments of governance cannot function. In my view, it's unlikely that Iraq can be restored to any semblance of a functioning society in the foreseeable future because of the 2003 war and now certainly bec
Michael Axworthy writes: "The doctrine that values of freedom and democracy are culturally relative, and therefore unsuitable in various parts of the world, is old and creaks. I recall it being used by people on the left in the early 80's about countries in Eastern Europe that are now members of the EU and NATO, as a result of democratic elections. It is a patro
The Saudis have long had close ties with Pakistan. They generously finance the madrasas, particularly those that emphasize a constructionist view of Islam. They also hire Pakistani troops and intelligence personnel, often for protection of assorted Saudi royalty. Some Saudi princes are known to favor Pakistani brides. All this by way of saying that, when it
Iraq is lost, at least for the foreseeable future, as a functioning society. It is lost even more as a functioning democracy. It is lost as a place where various ethnic communities can live in harmony to pursue a common goal of eradicating poverty and engendering prosperity. All this needn't have been. <!-- Ju-Ancho
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